We saw it again last week, BT have a major network issue in one of their POPs and half of the UK goes on an enforced 4 hour lunch break because no-one can get any work done.
What can you do to overcome this? Well we all know Broadband is not intended for mission critical, business intensive applications. Broadband is a consumer product plain and simple. It has no real SLA (4 day fix, that’s not really viable for business!) but everyone still uses Broadband for their office because it is so cheap.
What are the alternatives? Well an ethernet service or leased line has real guarantees (with teeth), 4 hour guaranteed fix, low latency guarantees, packet loss guarantees and more – but for most small to medium sized businesses paying £750 per month isn’t an option when you can get broadband for £25 per month.
When your broadband goes down you’re basically left with an unconnected office and that feeling that you’ve suddenly done a “hot tub time machine” trip back into the 80’s when everyone wore fluorescent pink leggings and sweat bands! (oh and there was no Internet!).
You can of course go out and get a 3G dongle from a.n.other network provider (3, O2, Everything Everywhere, etc) but your office’s day to day functionality becomes seriously limited as SSL sessions die mid browse, your guys who are on the road are suddenly unable to connect back into the office or access your local Exchange/SBS server, VPNs fail, and you’ve manage to creep from 1986 to 1992 .. but you’re still running at 10% efficiency.
There is an answer however! Using a Fido 3G SIM in your dongle/router coupled with your Fido Broadband service and you’re still connected to the same network as before BT failed, with the same IP addresses, the same SSL tunnels all still working perfectly and your external agents are still able to connect to your internal mail server (so business carries on trucking!).
Starting at just £15 per month with a one off setup fee of £50 (data charges apply) your office stays connected even when the BT Exchange is on fire and half of the world are contemplating listening to Simon Le Bon and Adam Ant in the local pub waiting for the dark ages to pass.
IP continuity, business continuity, peace of mind – all from just £15 per month plus VAT. Can you afford not to?
